Just the Girl
by Princess Angel Rose
Summary: A high school talent show has our favorite genius singing his soul out. In spite of everything she had done, maybe because of everything she had done, he had managed to fall in love with her.


Disclaimer: Please tell me you're kidding. I don't own the song, either.

Jimmy sat in the wing, ready to go onstage, albeit the nervousness. Goddard trotted up to him and the sixteen-year-old patted his cold metal head absent-mindedly. He still had time to back out, but then he'd never know.

He heard Libby sing her final chord and the crowd go wild. He was next, the last one. Cindy had been first and he'd considered going directly after her, but opted to be last. It gave him a chance to quit, but, though his palms sweated and his heart beat wildly, he decided he might go on with it. He still wasn't too positive.

"Good luck, Nerdtron," Cindy said, who had been waiting for Libby before she went to sit in the audience. "You're gonna _need _it!"

That was it. With that one remark, Cindy sealed Jimmy's decision. And with that one decision, Jimmy felt he sealed his fate.

He walked onto the stage, picked up the mike, and glued his eyes to Cindy.

"Hi," he said hesitantly when the blonde finally sat. He looked up so as not to lose his nerve. "My name is Jimmy Neutron and I will be the final act. I will be singing a song by The Click Five. This song is dedicated to a very…_special _girl in my life—Cindy Vortex."

Her head snapped up from where she'd been talking to Libby. Knowing he had her full, yet somewhat shocked, undivided attention, he nodded to Sheen to cue the music and "Just the Girl" started. He sang the song, passion entering his eyes and voice as he sang the song about a bittersweet girl who kept tearing him down, but she was all he wanted.

Cindy _was _the girl in the song. She tore him down and was good at what she did. She was so good at it that she could mess up his day with one insult. She laughed at him and everything he wanted, but her sweet laugher filled his dreams. _She _was the one he wanted. Even though she was a blabbermouth, and had a sarcastic attitude. She ignored him and aggravated him, but it just made him want her more. He would do anything to keep her safe, to keep her happy. But she wouldn't even take his phone calls; that's how much she hated him.

But he wasn't going to give up. Everything she'd ever said to him kept repeating, every touch she ever gave him still burned his skin, every time they'd almost kissed was another regret he had, the regret of being so close, and yet so far away.

He was jealous of Nick for having held her attention for so long. His jealousy just passed on to all of her boyfriends. He'd even love to be one of the many hearts she broke.

But he hated Eustace Strytch, for using her, and every one of her boyfriends who had broken her heart, who had hurt her.

As he cut off the final note, he said, just before the audience went crazy, "I love you, Cindy."

He looked her in the eyes as he said this, but tore his gaze away as he put the microphone back in the stand, sure that when she overcame the shock, she would be angry.

He went backstage as the principle came on to thank everyone for coming. Jimmy tried to get out of the building before anyone caught up with him.

No luck.

"Oh, Jimmy! I'm so proud of you!" his mom said, enveloping him in a hug.

"Thanks, mom," Jimmy choked out, half-strangled.

"Me, too, Jim-jam," his dad chuckled. "I remember the first time I told your mother that I loved her. Of course, it was a bit more, err—private."

"Dad!" Jimmy said, at the same time as his mother said, "Hugh!"

This would normally be perfect timing for someone to interrupt. However, when it is the only person who matters when you've embarrassed yourself, that's a different story.

"Hey Jimmy," Cindy said from behind, cautiously, which so contrasted her normal aura of confidence.

As Jimmy turned, he blushed, just before his parents excused themselves.

"Nice job. Didn't know you could sing that well," Cindy said, trying to make small talk.

"Thanks," he said, smiling slightly. "I…practiced…a lot."

Well, he had. He had practiced the song for an hour a day at first, and then cut it back to half an hour after he had been at it for a while. He'd practiced what to say, as well. What would he say? It had had to have been perfect, though he now figured he had screwed everything up.

"It shows," Cindy spoke of the practice bit.

They were silent for a few moments, Jimmy not wanting to bring up the song and Cindy not sure if she should. But one of them had to, Jimmy figured, and it was going to be him.

"Did you…um, did you hear the dedication?"

"Yeah," she giggled nervously.

"So…"

"So…"

"D'you—" they both said at the same time, then chuckled anxiously before saying together, "You first."

Cindy took the prerogative.

"Jimmy, d'you…really feel that way?"

"No," he said sarcastically. "I just decided what better way to spend my time than to find some other elaborate scheme to embarrass myself, something you have already taken care of, if I'm not much mistaken."

"Oh," Cindy whispered, disappointedly looking down and clearly not catching the sarcasm.

"Duh, Cindy," Jimmy tilted her face to look at him. "Of _course_ I love you. Please tell me that you, as smart as you are, caught that somewhere between the time we met and now."

"Actually…" she said, embarrassed, then changed the subject. "What did you want to ask?"

"Do you…do you feel it too?"

"Feel what?"

They were both sick. Sick of the game the played, the façade they put on, the charade they acted out. They were frustrated. They were annoyed. And one of them was becoming sincerely p.o.ed at the nature of "fate" or whatever cruel dealer dealt them this hand. He was about to take his revenge.

"You _know _what I mean, Vortex!" he rebuked impatiently. "The ache when we're apart; the fire when we're together. _Please _tell me you feel that! Please tell me that it's not just me and that I am not _near_ as pathetic and hopeless as I feel right now!"

"Neutron, the song's over. Quit being poetic," Cindy chided rationally. When she saw his face fall, taking her response as a no, she translated, "That is Vortex speak for, 'Yes, Jimmy, I love you too."

His face lit up, and he suddenly became of the mood to smirk at her Vortex-isms. He pushed a blonde strand of hair behind her ears.

"You, Vortex, are just the girl for me," he whispered.

"Yeah, Neutron?" Cindy teased. "Well, maybe it was fated."

And so, they went into another argument about fate versus us being in control of our own destiny, and in the end, Cindy had to agree with Jimmy. She may be just the girl for him, but nothing would've happened had he not figured out and told her just how perfect for him she was.


End file.
